Davante Adams discusses commitment to Raiders amid Jets rumors

Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams.

Star wide receiver Davante Adams sounds committed to featuring for the Las Vegas Raiders until further notice despite constant whispers linking him with the New York Jets.

“If I wanted to be gone, I’d be gone by now,” Adams said while speaking with a group of reporters on Sunday, per Tashan Reed of The Athletic. “This is where I want to be.”

Adams agreed to a five-year, $141.25M contract to join the Raiders via a trade from the Green Bay Packers in March 2022, but his Vegas tenure thus far likely hasn’t been what he hoped. The Raiders parted ways with Derek Carr, Adams’ college quarterback at Fresno State, after the 2022 season, and team owner Mark Davis dismissed head coach Josh McDaniels and general manager David Ziegler on Nov. 1 of last year.

While Adams and current Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers played alongside each other with Green Bay from 2014-21, it’s believed that Davis giving former interim head coach Antonio Pierce the full-time job this offseason will keep key locker room figures such as Adams and pass-rusher Maxx Crosby happy at least through September.

“It’s already helped the morale of the team,” Adams said about Pierce receiving the gig after he went 5-4 as interim coach. “It’s what we were all looking for: To be able to continue with the same mindset that we had. That’s our guy. We’ve got to get to work now. It’s about what we go out there and do.”

2023 fourth-round draft pick Aidan O’Connell understands he’ll have to compete with veteran Gardner Minshew and likely a to-be-determined rookie for Vegas’ starting quarterback job this coming summer. Some seem convinced that the Raiders could take a flier on Washington signal-caller Michael Penix Jr. during the first round of the upcoming draft, but one recent report hinted that new Raiders general manager Tom Telesco could make a big move up the draft board to land one of the top-rated quarterback prospects in this year’s class.

“It’s obvious what we want to do,” Adams added on Sunday about the team’s goals, “but it’s a lot of work that needs to get put in before you can even talk about doing that.”

As of Monday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook listed the 2024 Raiders as +300 betting underdogs to make the playoffs. One wonders if Adams will again be the subject of trade rumors related to the “win-now” Jets this fall if Las Vegas heads toward Halloween with a losing record.

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